This book is the first comprehensive description of development of the Acipenserid fish published in the English language. It con­ tains the results of more than 40 years of studies by the authors and their colleagues. My own life in science has been intimately related both with the authors and the fish, which are the subject of this book. Therefore, it gives me a great pleasure to present to the English reader an expanded version of the book. Those interested in the history of biology must be well aware of the fact that genetics in the USSR was practically demolished by Lysenko at the session of the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1948. However, it is much less well­ known that other fundamental branches of biology were also persecuted at that time, experimental embryology (developmental mechanics) among them. As a result, many embryologists, in­ cluding the authors of this book, were forced to turn to more ap­ plied problems, this being the only way to continue research. They had to abandon amphibians and concentrate their efforts on sturgeon.

Translated by: G.G. Gause, S.G. Vassetzky